Lukas Kramer, 22, the tenth person to take the stand in the eight-day inquest, told the court today that Smit had told him she was going for a ladies’ night event at a bar in Bangsar on Dec 6 and promised she would be back the next morning.
“I had come back from work to have dinner with Ivana but she told me she wanted to go out to the Mantra Bar in Bangsar for a ladies’ night event that night. She said she would be back by 1am.
“I changed into my gym clothes, gave her a hug and left to work out for 20 to 30 minutes in the gym in our building,” he said during his testimony at the Kuala Lumpur Coroner’s Court here.
Kramer, a German national working in Malaysia since November last year, said he wanted to stay up that night to greet his girlfriend of four weeks but drifted off to sleep.
“That was the last I saw her alive,” Kramer said when questioned by deputy public prosecutor N Joy Jothi earlier today.
Smit was found dead in the afternoon of Dec 7 last year, sprawled in the nude on a sixth-floor condo balcony at CapSquare Residences on Jalan Dang Wangi, Kuala Lumpur.
Police had originally classified this as sudden death, but the case was re-opened after pressure from Smit’s family, who claimed that there were elements of foul play and a cover-up.
The inquest is to determine how Smit died and whether there was enough evidence to take the case to trial.
On the morning of Dec 7 last year, Kramer said he called Smit as soon as he realised she had not come back to their apartment when he woke up at 6.30am.
“I asked her where she was and she told me she was at a girlfriend’s place. She didn’t mention any names. She told me she wanted to get some rest.
“Five minutes later, I got a call from Ivana’s number. The person who was on the line said she was the girlfriend whose place Ivana was currently at. I didn’t know who she was, but I know now it was Luna Johnson,” he said.
Luna and Alex Johnson are an American-Kazakh couple who hosted Smit at their condo at CapSquare Residences on Dec 7.
Smit’s body was found on the sixth floor of the building. The Johnsons live on the 20th floor.
Both have maintained their innocence. But they have failed to show up in court to testify in the inquest despite being subpoenaed.
Kramer said he had received a WhatsApp message at 7.24am from Smit. This was a selfie of Smit and Luna, along with a caption, “I’m chilling at my chick’s place. I love you,” with a heart emoji.
Kramer said he found the language used odd, as Smit had never used such words in the brief time they had known each other.
“She told me she loved me, yes, she said it several times, but that first part … I have never heard her speak like that. It was not something I was used to.”
Asked later by SN Nair, the lawyer holding a watching brief for the Smits, if he found the whole thing suspicious at that point, Kramer admitted he only had reason to suspect something because of the way the picture was taken.
“I couldn’t tell who had taken the selfie. Ivana looked tired for sure. But with this, the fact that she was not home yet, and the ‘chilling at my girlfriend’s place’ line … yes, I grew suspicious,” he said.
Smit did not return to their apartment by the time Kramer had come home from work that night. He tried calling his friends who knew Smit, but no one knew where she was.
“At around midnight or maybe 1am or 2am the next morning, I got a call from either the police or one of our friends that Ivana had passed away,” he said, holding back tears.
Kramer, who was composed for the most part today, denied rumours Smit was suicidal or unhappy, saying she was “the most positive person I had ever met” in the short time they had known each other.
“She was never suicidal. I can attest to that 100%. I can’t think of anyone who would want to murder her and I haven’t met anyone who hated her.”
Kramer also denied that he and Smit had been fighting prior to her death.
“We had arguments like every couple, but she was happy. Look at her social media. No one is saying the opposite,” he said.
Smit moved to Malaysia when she was three years old and lived for 13 years in Penang with her paternal grandparents.
Her body was repatriated to the Netherlands where she was laid to rest in her homeland last year.
Family members are attending the inquest.
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